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Facebook will end its unpaid market research programs and proactively take its Onavo VPN app off the Google Play store in the wake of backlash following TechCrunch’s investigation about Onavo code being used in a Facebook Research app the sucked up data about teens. The Onavo Protect app will eventually shut down, and will immediately cease pulling in data from users for market research though it will continue operating as a Virtual Private Network in the short-term to allow users to find a repl... Tags: Apple, Google, TC, Facebook, Instagram, India, Tech, Research, Vpn, App Store, Facebook research, Onavo, Instagram Snapchat, Facebok, Onavo VPN, BetaBound

If you’re doing ordinary photography and videography, there’s rarely any need to go beyond extreme wide angle lenses — but why be ordinary? This absurd custom fisheye lens has a 270 degree field of view, meaning it can see behind the camera it’s mounted on — or rather the camera mounted on it.
It’s certainly a bit of fun from Lens Rentals, the outfit that put it together, but it’s definitely real and might even be useful. Their detailed documentation of how they put it together piece by piece is... Tags: Gadgets, Photography, Hardware, Tech, Nikon, Optics, Lenses, Lens, Bender, Lens Rentals

After weeks of leaks, Samsung still managed to save some surprises for today’s event. One of the most interesting among them is a partnership with Instagram that brings Stories directly to the camera app.
It’s an interesting partnership and mutually beneficial for both parties. For some, it could signal a kind of return to pre-loaded bloatware, but at least in the case of Instagram, the app is virtually ubiquitous for most users at this point anyway.
The mode got a brief demo on stage toda... Tags: Mobile, Apps, Instagram, Samsung, Tech, Galaxy S10, Samsung Unpacked - Galaxy S10

The Daily Crunch is TechCrunch’s roundup of our biggest and most important stories. If you’d like to get this delivered to your inbox every day at around 9am Pacific, you can subscribe here.
1. Google says Nest’s secret microphone was ‘never intended to be a secret’
When Google announced earlier this month that its Nest Secure smart home hub would double-up as a Google Assistant, the news sparked anger, since Google hadn’t told anyone that the security hub had a microphone inside to begin wit... Tags: Google, Security, London, Hardware, Instagram, Samsung, Tech, Finland, Nest, Pacific, Soundcloud, Lucas Matney, Ef, Varjo, Daily Crunch, Amazon Music Apple

SoundCloud has a new pitch to creators: upload your music not just to SoundCloud, but to all major music services, too. Distribution is launching in a new beta as part of Premier service, and the terms look appealing.
Okay, first, to understand what digital distribution is, let’s go back in time. Digital music for many years meant primarily CDs and … well, piracy, despite some early (fairly horrible) stores. Then along came Apple’s iTunes Music Store. When it launched, you needed to have a lab... Tags: Apple, Spotify, Business, Music, Instagram, Berlin, Trends, Tech, Web, Monetization, Itunes, Revenue, Stories, Streaming, Soundcloud, Apple Music

Last year, Spotify in music distribution service DistroKid. Apple acquired Platoon. And today, SoundCloud announced it’s adding its own music distribution tools to its premium accounts aimed at artists, SoundCloud Pro and SoundCloud Pro Unlimited. With SoundCloud Premier distribution, artists can upload their tracks to all major music services, including Amazon Music, Apple Music, Spotify, Tencent, YouTube Music and even Instagram, directly from SoundCloud.
The service, which is now launchi... Tags: Apple, Spotify, Music, Media, Instagram, Tech, Artists, Music Services, IAC, Subscriptions, Soundcloud, Songs, Artist, Distribution, TuneCore, SoundCloud Premier

A new estimates that revenue-earning American Twitch streamers grew to nearly 9,800 in 2017 (a 59 percent increase from 2016) and made an estimated $87.1 million (representing a 30 percent YOY increase).
Twitch is one of the fastest-growing platforms for American content creators. In terms of YOY growth in number of creators themselves, Twitch falls just behind Instagram and YouTube, and ranks second behind Instagram in YOY revenue growth for those creators. (Fun Fact: Instagram’s creator-b... Tags: TC, Gaming, Instagram, Entertainment, Youtube, US, Tech, Twitch, Ninja, Recreate Coalition

A new study estimates that revenue-earning American Twitch streamers grew to nearly 9,800 in 2017 (a 59 percent increase from 2016) and made an estimated $87.1 billion (representing a 30 percent YOY increase).
Twitch is one of the fastest growing platforms for American content creators. In terms of YOY growth in number of creators themselves, Twitch falls just behind Instagram and Youtube, and ranks second behind Instagram in YOY revenue growth for those creators. (Fun Fact: Instagram’s cre... Tags: TC, Gaming, Instagram, Entertainment, Tech, Twitch, Ninja, Instagram and Youtube, Recreate Coalition

Twitter has been secretly developing an enhanced camera feature that’s accessible with a swipe from the home screen and allows you to overlay captions on photos, videos, and Live broadcasts before sharing them to the timeline. Twitter is already used by people to post pictures and videos, but as it builds up its profile as a media company, and in the age of Snapchat and Instagram, it is working on the feature in hopes it will get people doing that even more.
Described in Twitter’s code as the “N... Tags: Social, Mobile, Apps, Twitter, Instagram, Tech, Bloomberg, Snapchat, Cnbc, New Twitter, Matt Navarra, Persicope, Jane Manchun Wong

The European Union’s political institutions have reached agreement over new rules designed to boost transparency around online platform businesses and curb unfair practices to support traders and other businesses that rely on digital intermediaries for discovery and sales.
The European Commission proposed a regulation for fairness and transparency in online platform trading last April. And late yesterday the European Parliament, Council of the EU and Commission reached a political deal on ... Tags: Google, Amazon, Android, Facebook, Ecommerce, Europe, Instagram, Ebay, Google Search, Tech, Eu, European Union, E-commerce, Search Engines, Competition, Commission

The Daily Crunch is TechCrunch’s roundup of our biggest and most important stories. If you’d like to get this delivered to your inbox every day at around 9am Pacific, you can subscribe here.
1. Apple’s iOS update makes it easier to get to your subscriptions
Moving the Manage Subscriptions menu so that it’s just one click away from your App Store profile might seem like a minor change, but it was needed: As more mobile apps have adopted subscriptions as a means of generating revenue, it’s become ... Tags: Apple, Ios, Mobile, Instagram, US, Tech, Mozilla, Arizona, States, Ubisoft, Don, Evan, NPD, Daily Crunch, JibJab, Gregg Spiridellis

At nearly six years old, Patreon has gone from startup to king of membership. Now an established leader in an industry that’s been flipped on its head, Patreon’s path has been anything but predictable — peppered with its share of milestones, mishaps, pivots, champions, and critics — and offers invaluable insights for founders, investors, creatives, or those looking to make sense of the new media landscape.
Since we’ve probably read almost every word written on Patreon as part for our “unde... Tags: Amazon, TC, Instagram, Tech, Ceo, Web Browsers, Php, Ben Thompson, David Marcus, Editor, Musicians, Sam Altman, Alexis Ohanian, EC, Jack Conte, Thrive Capital

The UK government has said it could legislate to require age verification checks on users of dating apps, following an investigation into underage use of dating apps published by the Sunday Times yesterday.
The newspaper found more than 30 cases of child rape have been investigated by police related to use of dating apps including Grindr and Tinder since 2015. It reports that one 13-year-old boy with a profile on the Grindr app was raped or abused by at least 21 men.
The Sunday Times also f... Tags: Social, Apps, Europe, UK, Instagram, Tinder, Social Media, Tech, Bbc, Policy, Dating, Regulation, United Kingdom, Child Abuse, Dating Apps, Times

If you can’t beat or join them…force feed ’em? That appears to be Instagram’s latest strategy for IGTV, which is now being shoved right into Instagram’s main feed, the company announced today. Instagram says that it will now add one-minute IGTV previews to the feed, making it “even easier” to discover and watch content from IGTV.
Uh.
IGTV, you may recall, was launched last year as a way for Instagram to woo creators. With IGTV, creators are able to share long-form videos within the Instagram ... Tags: Google, Amazon, Instagram, Tech, Facebook Many, Katie Notopoulos, IGTV

Facebook has been ordered to curb its data collection practices in Germany after a landmark ruling on Thursday that the world's largest social network abused its market dominance to gather information about users without their consent. From a report: The order applies to data collected by Facebook-owned platforms like WhatsApp and Instagram, but also third-party sources that Facebook uses to flesh out its advertising profiles, including those of non-users. The Bundeskartellamt, or Federal Cartel... Tags: Facebook, Instagram, Germany, Tech, Gizmodo, Federal Cartel Office FCO, Instagram Data Without Consent

A lengthy antitrust probe into how Facebook gathers data on users has resulted in Germany’s competition watchdog banning the social network giant from combining data on users across its own suite of social platforms without their consent.
The investigation of Facebook data-gathering practices began in March 2016.
The decision by Germany’s Federal Cartel Office, , also prohibits Facebook from gathering data on users from third party websites — such as via tracking pixels and social plug-ins —... Tags: Social, Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, Europe, UK, Instagram, Privacy, Germany, US, Social Media, Linkedin, Tech, Eu, European Union, Bbc, Snapchat

Last month, Viacom picked up free streaming service Pluto TV for $340 million in cash. This week, the company spoke in more detail about its plans for Pluto TV – including its potential to for ad-supported streaming as well as the ability to market Viacom’s various subscription video properties directly to consumers, similar to how Amazon Channels works today.
At the time of the acquisition, Pluto TV offered over 100 channels of free content from 130 partners, and reached 12 million monthly u... Tags: Amazon, Instagram, Samsung, Tech, Walmart, Roku, Susan Wojcicki, Vizio, Pluto, Robert Bakish, Viacom, Pluto TV, Wojcicki, Facebook Watch, Freedive, Bakish

YouTube is expanding the test of its “Explore” feature, a new discovery tool it first introduced as an experiment within its iPhone app last year. Similar to Instagram’s Explore page, the new YouTube feature aims to introduce users to a diverse set of personalized recommendations so they can more easily find something new to watch. The test is now available across devices, and has been updated to also suggest smaller, up-and-coming YouTube creators, the company says.
The changes to Explore we... Tags: Social, Mobile, Apps, Media, Instagram, Youtube, Tech, Algorithms, Recommendations, Suggestions, Gaming Movies Music Originals

The still fresh-in-post boss of Instagram, Adam Mosseri, has been asked to meet the UK’s health secretary, Matt Hancock, to discuss the social media platform’s handling of content that promotes suicide and self harm, the BBC reports.
Mosseri’s summons follows an outcry in the UK over disturbing content being recommended to vulnerable users of Instagram, following the suicide of a 14 year old schoolgirl, Molly Russell, who killed herself in 2017.
After her death, Molly’s family discovered she ... Tags: Social, TC, Facebook, Apps, Europe, UK, Instagram, Molly, Youtube, Social Media, Tech, Bbc, Artificial Intelligence, Self Harm, United Kingdom, Telegraph